To help build hype, create story lines and mesh international play styles, Riot Games created the Rift Rivals event. Starting in 2017, teams from each region would square off against their geographic “rivals.” North America has had a natural rivalry with Europe since the early days of professional gaming, as do Korea, China and Taiwan. The tournament originally gave smaller regions, like those located in Latin America and Oceania, a chance to test their MOBA mettle on Summoner’s Rift against international opponents.
For Rift Rivals in 2019, Riot Games decided against hosting events for smaller regions, focusing on NA/EU and Korea/China/Taiwan. To some players in those smaller territories, known as Wild Card regions like Brazil’s Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL), this change came as a surprise.
“I don’t know the reason Wild Card regions aren’t included,” Gabriel “Von” Barbosa, the coach for Flamengo, told Newsweek. “It would be a good experience for Brazil because without playing against other regions we can’t compare.”
Riot Games Brazil released an official blog explaining why Latin America was being excluded from 2019’s Rift Rivals. “When we evaluate the Rift Rivals on the competitive schedule in Brazil, we decided that alongside Latin America we will focus our efforts to elevate local esports,” Riot officials said in the post. “That means we are not going to have Rift Rivals in all the regions this year … It will not be a global event.” Rift Rivals took place in the middle of week 5 of CBLOL’s winter split, making it impractical to stop play for what are essentially show matches for international gloating rights.
In the future, Latin America may have its own event similar to Rift Rivals, a CB LOL spokesperson said. This will give smaller regions a chance to compete against those of similar infrastructure and skill. Brazil, Latin America North and Latin America South had their own Rift Rivals event in 2018, with Brazil’s KaBuM! E-sports and Vivo Keyd winning the event in Sao Paulo. In June of 2018, Riot Games consolidated the North and South regions into one tournament, having countries like Mexico, Argentina and Chile under one League of Legends esports scene. Without a Rift Rivals, Brazil has no way to play professionally against these regions, which already have endemic rivalries stemming from the passionate world of international soccer.
Brazilian players wish they were given a shot to compete at more international events. “I feel sad that we don’t have Rift Rivals anymore because I think we have this rivalry with South America,” said Filipe “Ranger” Brombilla from KaBum esports.
“The last Rift Rivals we played was a cool tournament and format, we had to team up with your enemy,” said Redemption’s Luan “Jockster” Cardoso. “I feel sad that we were not included and want to be included again…“The passion of the fans, it comes from football and transfers into the esports scene.”
Though CBLOL has a vibrant and hungry fan base, pulling in tens of thousands of viewers for games streamed on Twitch, the Brazilian scene is still comparatively small. The funds, investments and large staff of international brands and teams like Cloud 9, Fnatic and Team SoloMid are not as prevalent in the developing region. “We need more professionalism, it’s not like NA or EU,” coach of Team One Vinícius “Neki” Ghilardi said. “There aren’t a lot of organizations with structure and investments … hard work and good people are the key.”
Brazil is the only country in Latin America to have it’s own League of Legends tournament which offers its own challenges. Being self-inclusive allows Brazil as a region to grow, fostering its own talent while building up a native competitive scene. But the Latin American Challenger scene is segmented with North, South and Brazilian servers, limiting the talent pool. Korean players and coaching staff have been imported into the region to try and raise the bar for the professional scene.
If every country in Latin America, including Brazil, was lumped together in a tournament similar to Europe’s LEC, then those who can’t afford to import players or a basic infrastructure would fall by the wayside. “You have small regions with good set-ups and championships, but they cannot play against us many times in the year,” INTZ coach Lucas “Maestro” Pierre said. “If you don’t have money or time to boot camp, then it just becomes a collateral damage of the circuit.” Pierre recommends adding “two or three international events” similar to the Intel Extreme Masters tournaments run in the early days of League of Legends esports.
The Brazilian scene simply needs time to grow. Not that long ago NA and EU teams were considered laughing stocks at international events. After years of floundering and falling to the likes of SK Telecom and Flash Wolves, NA’s Cloud 9 and EU’s Fnatic both found success at the 2018 World Championship in Seoul, South Korea.
“I think for you to improve, you need to introduce new coaching staffs or mentalities, or you need to bring in players that can kind of do the same,” Flamengo’s coach Gabriel “Von” Barbosa said. “We don’t have that much talent in our solo queue It would be good for us to face off against other regions, but we would get crushed anyway.”
